“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• How to answer this frequent interview question ?

• How to ensure the objectivity of job analysis ?

• Should I accept this job offer in Syria and leave Cairo ?

• Could you help me in my research on the role of training and career planning ?

All reasonable questions related to careers, skill development or employment related issues – sent to advisor@skill-link.com - would be addressed in this section every week.

Q1:How to answer this frequent interview question ?

At job interviews I am always asked the following question:
“If I there are 2 other 2 candidates who have the same experience and certificates like me, why should they choose me and not them?”

I don’t know the reason for that question and how I could answer it.

G. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Mr. G.

This question is one of those questions where the interviewer(s) is interested to see how you can ‘sell’ yourself and how confident you are. In a way they assess your character and quick ability to respond.

Some other interviewers will try and get you angry, just to see how you react. There are different interview styles, skill-link.com may not like all of them, however they exist and we have to deal with them.

As to how you could answer ? There are many ways of course… what ever you say should sound convincing and that you believe in it.

For instances, one of the following could be good replies:
“Well, I am sure you know that experience and certificates are just a few dimensions to consider. I believe my character, work ethics, and more importantly my interest in your company, would make it an easy decision for you to make up your mind”

OR

“To be very frank, you will never know you made the right choice until the selected candidate performs on the job. What I can tell you is that I am a professional, hard working person who is interested in a long term career with you”.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q2: How to ensure the objectivity of job analysis ?

First I would like to thank you for your great effort. My question is about Job Analysis.

Conducting job analysis for the employees is very hard assignment because of the following: In some cases the employees have a feeling that you are conducting job analysis to reduce the head count. In other cases, usually the incumbent has the tend to exaggerate about responsibilities and importance of his/her work.

How can we as "HR Specialists" deal with all the above mentioned matters?

M. M. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. M.

Thank you for your kind words about “Your Career Advisor”.

Regarding your question, the issue is often faced by HR professionals or outside consultants working on organization and HR assignments in organizations. Skill-link.com sometimes faces it, when conducting advisory work for its clients.

For the benefit of all our readers, we define job analysis as understanding the various dimensions of a job (a role) independent from the job holder and what he/she is really capable of doing. The job analysis measures several dimensions of a particular position, such as: knowledge required, problem solving, diversity of tasks, span of control / supervision, impact, decision making, working conditions etc… The purpose is to obtain an objective measurement of the job, usually used in grading and salary determination or in recruitment. It is very obvious, job analysis is not a job description. We assume this is what you mean by job analysis. If you meant productivity measurement and work load assessment, it is a different thing, here you identify the tasks undertaken by each individual, how often that happens (daily, weekly, monthly etc…) and the average time for each task to be completed. This latter exercise is to determine staffing levels (do I need 2 people or 4 people in that unit etc…).

To do it right, regardless of what you exactly meant by job analysis, and avoid staff inflating what they do, the HR person or the consultant must challenge facts, double check figures, use common sense AND confirm the findings with the job holder’s immediate supervisor. These measures will minimize the risks of over stating job roles and work load. Obviously being somewhat familiar with the job content makes it easier to assess reasonability and to spot exaggeration. For instance, if you know nothing about the work of flight controllers at airports you will have a tougher time assessing the information you collect, as opposed to – for instance – the job of a Student Registration Officer, a Receptionist, a Recruitment Supervisor or an IT User Support person.

We hope the above was of some help to you.

Good Luck

Q3: Should I accept this job offer in Syria and leave Cairo ?

I would like to say thank you for this useful corner in your site which is of a great aid to our careers.

I am 27 years old, married, currently working in a major company in Egypt as "Senior Marketing Analyst", its been 4 years now with them since my graduation. Recently I received an offer to work in Syria as "Assistant Marketing Manager" in a group of companies, their main business is an advertising newspaper like "Al waseet" here in Egypt, its called "Al-Daleel" , also the owner owns a university and an educational center that offers a wide range of courses, ranging from higher diplomas to very short courses.

The point is that I don’t have any information about the Syrian market, is it promising ? or is it dormant ? or what ? are there good opportunities that will assist me to develop and enhance my career? what is the salary range there ? They offered $ 1000 inclusive everything, is it suitable with my experience or what ?

I would appreciate you help very much whether to take that step or not.
also please find attached my detailed CV which will help you to assess my career better.

H. A. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Mr. A.

Again, thank you for your appreciation of our efforts.

We do not know enough about your potential employer (providing you with the offer in Syria) or for that matter if you are happy in your current job or not. From your CV we can tell it is a good and reputable company. However, we will try and answer in general terms:

You are married, hence risky changes, specially when involving another country should be carefully considered. Specially, when it is to a place like Syria, not your traditional expatriate destination, such as the Arab Gulf.

Now about Syria, the country was very closed for many years, similar to Egypt in the 1960s and early 1970s. Thousands of Syrians who look for good job opportunities and income seek to join companies in the Arab Gulf. The question that comes to our mind, why would they need an Egyptian ? specially that it is not a specific technical skill they are after (you do not have a particular experience in newspaper advertising). Why can’t they find an experienced marketing professional who is a Syrian working abroad ? or a Lebanese, just across the border from Syria. And it is not like you will accept this job, and while there try and find a better one (which is a strategy some people adopt when going to Dubai or Bahrain for instance).

Considering another angle, how much you know about that potential employer, the working conditions, the environment, your potential colleagues ? How about your knowledge of the Syrian market ? Technical jobs (like software development) are easily performed in any country, but others, such as market, are better performed when backed by thorough knowledge and extensive contacts of the local market.

Syria is less expensive then Egypt, so a USD 1,000 salary is not bad. You must check what sort of taxes are applicable, would you get an additional housing allowance ? or is it included ? How about travel to and from Egypt on vacations etc..

And finally, if you are not that satisfied with your current employer, did you actively pursue other options locally or in the Gulf ?

In summary, the decision is yours, we tried to prompt you to think of the various issues and considerations surrounding your decision.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q4: Could you help me in my research on the role of training and career planning ?

I was searching through the web so as to find something relevant to the topic I am researching. I need any article or material or even a book name that can give me the answer to the following question: :
“The role of training, development and career planning in improving productivity and quality of work? “

If you have anything that might help me please send it to me.

O. S. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. S.

We are not sure what is it you are exactly trying to achieve, however we are always willing to help.

We have identified some information for you from a variety of sources, some of them address macro policy (ie. On a country level), others address organizational / company situation. Since the information is too large to present here, we sent it to you by email. Actually via several emails, due to the number and size of the documents.

Please let us know if it proved to be of use and relevance to your work.

Good Luck
Your Career Advisor

Note from the editor: 
Employer names and inquiry sender names were withheld for confidentiality

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